AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot warned Western pharmaceutical companies must accelerate innovation to match Chinese rivals or risk losing global competitiveness, as the Cambridge-based drugmaker reported £30.7bn in revenues for the first half of 2026.
Soriot said his company now operates at "Chinese speed" internally. "We have to make sure we don't fall behind," he said. "What we are learning ourselves is we have to move much faster. We always talk about Chinese speed in our company, and we want to operate in Chinese speed." The British company reported a 6% revenue increase at constant exchange rates compared to the same period a year earlier, and said it remained confident of hitting £80bn in annual sales by 2030, up from £59bn last year.
The Competitiveness Warning
Soriot's comments reflect growing concern that Europe's pharmaceutical sector — once a world leader — is losing ground to Asia. He cited the automotive industry as a cautionary tale, saying Western companies focused on petrol engines while Chinese firms seized the electric vehicle market. He said Chinese pharmaceutical companies were investing heavily in antibody drug conjugates, which deliver chemotherapy agents directly to cancer cells, and cell therapy, in which live cells are injected into the body to help fight diseases.
Soriot, described as the highest-paid FTSE 100 chief executive, said Europe and the US needed to watch China's pharmaceutical industry closely and collaborate to take drugs to global markets. The warning comes despite AstraZeneca's strong pipeline. Soriot said it was "unmatched" and insisted the company was on course to hit its growth targets in 2030 and beyond, even after the surprise failure of Wainua, one of its major heart disease drug prospects, in clinical trials earlier this month. "We have to accept to fail some of the time," he said. "Biology is biology."
AI and Productivity
Soriot also played down the risk to jobs posed by AI, saying it could increase the speed of drug development, particularly in the design of trial protocols. He said AI tools would help improve productivity in the pharma industry, allowing for economic growth rather than fewer people being needed. "This story about AI killing jobs is a bit of a fake story," he said. "I can tell you it makes me faster and smarter," referring to his experience with AI tools.
NHS Pricing Deal Under Scrutiny
Soriot said AstraZeneca would engage with the UK government under its new leader, Andy Burnham, to seek clarity on a deal with the US that could result in the NHS paying billions of pounds more for medicines. He said it was too early to say whether the change in leadership would affect the deal, which was struck under pressure from Donald Trump, who threatened heavy tariffs on UK drug exports to the US. Analysis has suggested the deal could lead to 229,000 excess deaths in England. "We need to understand their priorities and where the priorities are," Soriot said. "You have to establish your priorities and then fund them."
Why This Matters:
Soriot's warning isn't just corporate posturing. It's a snapshot of Europe's broader industrial challenge. The continent that invented modern pharmaceuticals now risks becoming a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker in one of its most strategic sectors. Chinese firms aren't just competing on cost — they're innovating faster in cutting-edge therapies like cell treatments and antibody conjugates. If Europe can't match that pace, it won't just lose market share. It'll lose the capacity to develop life-saving treatments domestically, making it dependent on foreign supply chains for medicines in the same way it became dependent on Russian gas. The pharmaceutical sector employs hundreds of thousands across Europe and drives billions in exports. Losing that edge would mean fewer high-skilled jobs, weaker public finances, and less leverage in global health crises. Soriot's call for "Chinese speed" is a reminder that European competitiveness isn't a given — it has to be fought for, sector by sector, with regulatory reform and investment that matches the urgency of the competition.